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Three Philosophers Belgian Style Blend (Quadrupel) Review

If my previous touch with Ommegang was bad, this more than made up for it…

Appearance – A bit less carbonated than I expected, there wasn’t even a pop from the bottle. The pour revealed a bit of a head, which seemed to lay low and stick around. There was a good, but not spectacular bit of lace. If you sat around in a cave for three years, you might not be terribly exciting either.

Smell – Really good. Dark fruit, toffee (but not butter), coffee, vanilla, but not roasty despite what you would expect given the flavor profile. No astringency, hops, tannins. Reminds me of dark port wine. Cherries and dark malts, but nothing that screams syrup or otherwise artificial flavors and colors. Does not contain MSG.

Taste – Ah, the big one. Whereas the other Ommegang seemed like it was all hands with dark malt syrup and cherry soda, this one had hit it’s stride. The cherry note is still there, but no longer soda syrup. The dark malts are there. You can even find some hops in there. But I do think there’s oak in the back, maybe some dryness on the sides and combined with the nose, that seems to indicate coffee and port wine. The effect is spectacular, and there’s absolutely no alcohol taste to be found. This is good – it’s aged spectacularly well.

Mouthfeel – About right. A bit heavy, but this is required. More carbonation would be nice but I do understand the corks can be iffy. I sort of wish it did have more carbonation though, either the blending got it or the corks don’t hold enough pressure for me.

Drinkability – Very drinkable for a quad. Drink responsibly, this one absolutely will sneak up on you.